Janice Parker's Glory is an immersive dance piece with cast of over 30 performers

Professional and non-professional dancers feature in piece part of Glasgow’s cultural Commonwealth Games

Janice Parker delights in blurring the boundaries between different forms. Her Private Dancer introduced the audience to a house filled with performers: for Glory, a major part of Glasgow’s cultural Commonwealth Games programme, she arrived at Tramway with a new vision.

‘I am somebody who is always interested in the context in which the work is happening,’ Parker says. ‘Private Dancer had a house, and I started to think about the village that would be built here for the athletes. I wondered what a performers’ village would look like. And the thing that came to me was a village without walls.’

Unsurprisingly, her response has been both to the people and the place, with Tramway’s impressive main space influencing her direction. ‘I love that main space in Tramway: many of us have seen great works there, so it holds huge memories. I was really excited about being in it: just the scale allowed a scale for the installation, which is also the set. But what I am really interested in is immersion in movement, and being able to see the body close up: Tramway allows you to see the body far away. So the audience will be sitting around the edge, like in an arena.’

The power of Parker’s choreography is always enhanced by her use of the environment: her frequent collaborator Layzell has designed the installation in response to Tramway, while she explores some of the themes suggested by the parallel lines between sport and performance.

‘It’s one big house, that you can dance within and still get a feeling of home. It’s not about the Commonwealth Games, in one sense, but it is that journey of – how did we all come here to this space, at this time? We are all under the same roof.’

Tramway, Glasgow Wed 5–Mon 10 Mar

Immersive dance experience featuring a cast of over 30 professional and non-professional performers, all in celebration of Glasgow 2014. Presented by Janice Parker Projects in conjunction with Tramway

Immersive dance experience featuring a cast of over 30 professional and non-professional performers, all in celebration of Glasgow 2014. Presented by Janice Parker Projects in conjunction with Tramway.